Op-Ed: We Have To Keep Sonya Massey’s Name Alive

Last summer, on July 6, we learned of a new reason for the police to kill an unarmed Black person: a pot of hot water.

Sonya Massey, then 36, called 911 when she suspected an intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois.

According to an Illinois State Police summary of her shooting death, when police arrived, deputies did indeed see a car at Massey’s home that looked broken into. After knocking on the door, the two officers claimed they found her “distraught and not thinking clearly.” But instead of treating her as a person in need of help, she was ultimately treated as a criminal, and after an exchange, subsequently executed.

Read more here.